John Huntington Farnworth (1946) has died at age 90

John Huntington Farnworth, passed away on May 27, 2024.  He was born in London, and died in Scotland.  And although he became an American citizen, his family likes to think he went full circle beginning and ending in the UK.

He was born in 1933 and began attending Highgate about 1942 or 43 as a "day boy". He later became a boarder in the senior school in 1946.  John wrote his memoirs about ten years ago and described in length his years at Highgate.  During the war a bomb exploded in the playing field in 1943 outside his French classroom.   There was a panic to reach the bomb shelter; he swallowed glass from a large window that was shattered as a result.   He loved his years at school in spite of the war and this experience. 

In 1949 his family emigrated to the United States and he completed his college degree first at UCLA in S. California and later graduating from Stanford University in 1953.  

He married a college sweetheart in 1954 and began a large family.  His major career was with British Airways, and later Cunard line, so he retained a tie to the UK.

Several years following a divorce, he married his second wife, Carol, and they celebrated their 41st anniversary earlier this year.

He had a love of classical music which began as a young child, and continued throughout his life. For several years he wrote classical music live performance reviews for the Eugene Register Guard newspaper, and in the late 1980s enjoyed a spirited discussion about music with Sir Yehudi Menuhin at the annual Highgate Old Boys reunion and dinner in London.